Linacre - 22nd June 2024

 Last weekend, I was down at Linacre for a few hours. The boardwalk around the top reservoir was still out of bounds for repairs, and the water level there had also been dropped. Unfortunately, no waders....yet! As is expected in June, it was very quiet, with just a few ducklings around and about. The highlight (perhaps "lowlight") of the walk was my first sighting of Swift (at Linacre) for the year. This is very late, and only involved one bird that was seen for about 30 seconds! No hirundines were seen. I checked the last few boxes, and was very pleased to see that the second brood of Pied Flycatchers had fledged successfully, making that 10 chicks in total - the highest ever count.

Out on the water the following bids were counted: Mallard (77 adults and 6 ducklings), Tufted Duck (15 adults), Lesser Black-backed Gull (4 adults), Mandarin (15 adults and 6 ducklings), Moorhen (just 6 adults - no young yet!), Coot (2 adults and 3 chicks - the only ones seen so far this year), Grey Wagtail (1 adult) and Great-crested Grebe (7 adults and 6 juveniles).

I also had a quick check, and fill, of the feeders. Whilst walking down, I flushed a Tawny Owl and also saw my first Straw Dot (moth) and Volucella bombylans (hoverfly, bumblebee mimic) of the year. A Chimney Sweeper moth, reported by Antony, in the fields beyond the top reservoir on 26th, was the first record since 2019.

Volucella bombylans

Linacre - 24th June 2023

 This morning I had three hours walking around Linacre, checking the nestboxes, carrying out this month's WeBS count, and looking at the insects that were out and about in the 20 degree temperature. 

First up the nestboxes. I walked around and checked the last few remaining nests, and the great news is that they had all fledged successfully, including the three Pied Flycatchers- hurrah!! I'll write another blog post about the totals later in the year.

Next, the WeBS walk. Species (and numbers seen) were: Mallard (99; 83 adults and 16 ducklings), Tufted Duck (41 adults), Mandarin Duck (42; 32 adults and 10 ducklings), Coot (22; 12 adults and 10 juveniles), Moorhen (20; 11 adults and 9 juveniles), Great-crested Grebe (8; 5 adults and 3 juveniles), Little Grebe (2;1 heard on the middle reservoir and 1 seen on the top reservoir), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 adult), and, best of all, a Common Sandpiper on the bottom reservoir - the first record of the year!). Other birds seen or heard were: Song Thrush (2 heard), Chiffchaff (3 heard), Blackcap (4 heard) and Garden Warbler (1 heard in the ringing site). 

Insects were the best I've had so far this year, with several first sightings. Meadow Brown (15 - an excellent count across the site, and the first Linacre record of the year), Ringlet (2 in the ringing site - first Linacre record of 2023), Speckled Wood (5), Red-tailed and Tree Bumblebees, Red and Black Froghopper, Common Blue and Azure Damselflies (the latter species, the first Linacre record of 2023), Swollen-thighed Flower Beetle, Volucella bombylans (white-tailed variety), Volucella pellucens (first 2023 record), Latticed Heath (2) and a Harlequin Ladybird larvae.

Volucella bombylans

Azure Damselfly

Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle

Red and Black Froghopper

Linacre - 11th June 2023

 Yesterday, Luke and I went down to Linacre to check on, and ring, the last few chicks. There were four boxes left, but when we got there, just two still had chicks, and two had been predated. The first box contained 3 Pied Flycatcher chicks and the other held 3 Blue Tits.

Pied Flycatcher

Now that all the boxes have been checked the totals for 2023 are as follows: Blue Tit; 14 broods and 93 chicks, Great Tit; 7 broods and 46 chicks and Pied Flycatcher; 1 brood and 3 chicks. This gives a total of 142 chicks ringed.

Whilst on site, we also spotted 5 adult Great-crested Grebes, with 2 juveniles and one pair on a nest, 45 adult Mallards and 7 broods of ducklings totally 34 young, 11 adult Coots and 10 juveniles (3 broods), 6 Moorhens and 8 juveniles (5 broods), 24 adult Tufted Ducks, 40 Mandarin Ducks (28 adults and 11 ducklings (3 broods), 3 Grey Wagtails (1 adult and 2 juveniles), 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 3 Swallows, 4 Chiffchaffs, 4 Blackcaps, 1 Willow Warbler, Goldfinch, Skylark, 5 Song Thrushes (singing and 1 adult seen), 2 Bullfinches (1m and 1fm) and 1 singing Garden Warbler.

Coot chicks

Insect wise, we saw 3 Common Blue Damselflies, 1 female Broad-bodied Chaser (first record of the year),  Volucella bombylans (hoverfly), 1 Marbled White Spot (moth, a first record for the site), 1 Silver Y moth, 1 Hairy Shieldbug (my first Linacre record since 2013!), 1 Black-headed Cardinal Beetle, Thick-thighed Flower Beetles,  1 Dark-edged Bee-fly, 1 Speckled Wood, Scorpion Fly, and several Eristalis hoverflies.

Marbled White Spot

Linacre Insects - 3rd June 2022

 The sun came out on Friday afternoon, so I popped down to Linacre in the hope of seeing some insects.

The first ones I saw were Common Blue, Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies. 

Common Blue Damselfly

Butterflies seen were: Small Copper (1), Meadow Brown (1), Common Blue (1), Comma (1), Green-veined White (1), Holly Blue (1), Large White (3) and Brimstone (1 male). 1 Nemophora degeerella was also seen.

Hoverflies were far and few between, but one Helophilus pendulus and 1 Volucella bombylans were seen.

Helophilus pendulus (and friend!)

Birds seen were: Mallard (83; 52 adults and 31 ducklings), Moorhen (18; 5 adults and 13 young), Coot (20; 6 adults and 9 young), Tufted Duck (17 adults), Mandarin Duck (29; 13 adults and16 ducklings), Grey Wagtail (3), Great-crested Grebe (7; 4 adults and 3 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult), Herring Gull (1 adult) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (9; 6 adults and 3 younger birds (not this year's juveniles). 

Linacre Insects and WeBS - 13th June 2021

This afternoon was warm and sunny with temperatures in the low 20s, so I decided to have a look around Linacre for some damselflies and other insects. 

By far the best species present was the Wall butterfly, with 2 females seen (records sent to County recorder).

Wall Brown

In addition, I also recorded 1 male Common Blue Butterfly, 1 Speckled Wood 1 Small Copper and 1 Green-veined White, along with dozens of Common Blue Damselflies. 

Common Blue Butterfly

I was on site on the 5th June too, and saw my first Volucella bombylans (hoverfly) of the year, and several Celypha lacunana (moths).

Birdwise, it's quite quiet, but today's WeBS count saw the following birds recorded: Mallard (39 adults and 20 juveniles), Mandarin (27 adults and 14 ducklings), Tufted Duck (12 adults), Moorhen (3 adults and 2 chicks), Coot (9 adults and 10 young), 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail, 3 Great-crested Grebe (2 adults and 1 chick) and 1 sub-adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Mandarin with ducklings

Mallard with ducklings

Lathkill Dale - 6th June 2020

Jayne and I went for a walk along Lathkill Dale today. The weather wasn't great, with strong winds and lots of cloud, but we did get a few spells of sunshine which brought out a few insects.

Birdwise, it was quite quiet, but we did manage to see and hear 4 Ravens (family party perhaps?), and, best of all, a pair of mating Spotted Flycatchers! Other birds seen were: Jackdaws, Crows, Blue and Great Tit, Mallards, Mute Swan (1 pair with 5 cygnets), Grey Heron, Swallow, Swift, House Martins (20+), Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Moorhen and Coot (2 broods).

A few insects were seen in the sunnier periods, including my first Chimney Sweeper moth of 2020, male and female Common Blue Butterflies, one Speckled Wood and a Volucella bombylans hoverfly.

Common Blue (male)

Common Blue (female)

Volucella bombylans (bumblebee mimic)

Linacre Ringing and Insects - 30th June 2019

I haven't done any mist netting at Linacre since the end of March, so yesterday morning I was down there with 3 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group. We had just 3 hours before the wind picked up, but we managed a respectable 38 birds, including our first juvenile birds of the year, and a very nice retrap.

Juvenile birds made up the majority of today's birds (29 out of the 38 birds caught), and consisted of Blue and Great Tits, Blackcaps (2, and the first of 2019), Whitethroat (1, the first of 2019), Dunnock (1) Robin (4, also the first of 2019) and Goldfinch (1).

Goldfinch (juvenile)

Robin (juvenile)

The retrap was an adult male Whitethroat. It had been ringed at Linacre on 1st July 2017 (1 year 364 days ago), as a 5M (i.e. born in 2016). This was the first it had been retrapped since then, and showed signs of breeding. I saw a ringed Whitethroat at Linacre back in May (see here), which was singing in the ringing site, so was presumably this bird. 

Adult Whitethroat

Totals for today were (new/retrap): Dunnock 2/0, Robin 4/0, Blackbird 1/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Whitethroat 1/1, Blackcap 3/0, Blue Tit 13/1, Great Tit 8/0, Nuthatch 1/0, Goldfinch 1/0 and Bullfinch 1/0.

We also heard our first Garden Warbler of 2019.

After the ringing session I stayed on for a short while, and saw my first Volucella bombylans hoverfly of the year, and a pair of Large Skippers.

Volucella bombylans

Large Skipper (female)

Linacre Insects - June 2018

This is my first post of 2018 about the insect life that can be found at Linacre. I had a visit on 1st June when it was a lovely sunny day. I spent some time walking around the ringing site and then walked up to the top reservoir.

During the visit I recorded 3 species of damselfly: Blue-tailed, Common Blue and Large Red. The first 2 species are common around all 3 reservoirs, whilst I only saw 2 Large Reds, 1 by the boardwalk around the top reservoir and 1 in the ringing area.

Large Red Damselfly

I also saw 2 species of Volucella hoverfly, Volucella pellucens and Volucella bombylans, along with 3 other species of hoverfly: Episyrphus balteatus a.k.a. Marmalade Hoverfly, Eristalis nemorum (a dronefly sp), Helophilus pendulus and Myathropa florea.

Volucella pellucens

Volucella bombylans 

Butterflies seen were Common Blue (3 males in the ringing area), and a single Peacock (1 in the ringing area). Moths seen here were Cinnabar Moth (1) and Silver Y (1).

I was down again on Saturday (16th). The weather wasn't so good, so the number of insects was smaller. New species included Red and Black Froghopper, Straw Dot (moth), Yellow Shell (moth) and Black Snipefly.

Black Snipefly

Linacre Insects - 3rd June 2017

It was bright and sunny again today (20 degrees), so I had a couple of hours in and around the ringing site at Linacre, to see which insects were out and about. As it turned out, there were quite a few, including many "new for the year" species.

The first insect I saw was Common Blue Damselfly, which was very numerous (c.20/30 individuals), including many newly emerged individuals. A single Large Red Damselfly was also present , in exactly the same spot as last year's individual.

Common Blue Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

A single Meadow Brown butterfly (my first of 2017), was seen, as was a male Common Blue Butterfly, feeding on the Bird's Foot Trefoil, and a Large Skipper.

Common Blue Butterfly

Large Skipper

As well as these butterflies, there were also several day flying moths present, 3 of which I could identify: Nettle Tap Moth, Cinnabar Moth and Bloodvein.

Cinnabar Moth

Bloodvein

Hoverflies were present in good numbers with numerous Eristalsis sp seen, a single Helophilus pendulus , 1 Volucella pellucens (Great Pied Hoverfly), 1 Volucella bombylans and a couple of "as yet unknown" species!!

Great Pied Hoverfly

Other species seen were: Scorpion Fly, a Mayfly sp (possibly Drake Mackerel) and a Hairy Shieldbug. All in all, an excellent couple of hours!!

Linacre June WeBS and new insects

This month's WeBS count was carried out today by Mandy from the Chesterfield RSPB Group (thanks Mandy). Wildfowl numbers were good, and a confirmed breeding record for Tufted Duck was also a really good record.

Counts this month were: Mallard 57; 51 adults and 6 juveniles, Coot 25;13 adults and 12 juveniles, Moorhen 7; 1adult and 6 juveniles, Great-crested Grebe 2; 1adult and 1 juvenile, Tufted Duck 10; 5 adults and 5 juveniles, Mandarin 23; 14 adults and 9 juveniles, Canada Goose 1, Grey Wagtail at least 4; 2 adults and 2 juveniles.

Whilst Mandy was doing the WeBS count , I spent some time looking at some insects! 5 species of butterfly were seen; Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood , Ringlet (my first of the year), Large Skipper (also a first for the year, and a new species for the site, as far as I am aware), and a Red Admiral (seen by Mandy).

Large Skipper

I also spotted one species of damselfly; a pair of Common Blues "in cop" i.e. mating, and most excitingly, another brand new species for Linacre; Broad-bodied Chaser! Not only did I see 2, a male and  a female, but I also got a photo of both sexes.

Broad-bodied Chaser (male)

Broad-bodied Chaser (female)

 

Final note on the insects goes to two hoverfly species that were seen. The first, Great Pied Hoverfly, is one I first recorded last year.

Great Pied Hoverfly

 

At least 2 individual were seen, along with a couple of another species, Volucella bombylans, a stunning bee mimic (see last post for a photo).

Linacre Ringing and Mothing- 14th June 2014

Yesterday morning I was up early and got to Linacre for 5am. The primary reason was for a ringing session, but I also managed to get a bit of "mothing" done when drizzle and a dearth of birds put an end to the ringing.

First bird on site this morning was a Little Owl, that I saw on the drive in. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find the nest this year, so no ringing. I've had to make do with sightings instead. Arriving in the ringing area, we soon had the usual nets up, and started to ring the first of several juvenile Great Tits (3Js). These were quickly followed by a juvenile Bullfinch (the first of 4 Bullfinches ringed today), a juvenile Chiffchaff, Blackcap (2 from the 5 Blackcaps ringed today) and a Robin.  By 9am the drizzle set in, and as we'd ringed 21 birds of 5 species, we decided to call it a day.

When the other members of the group left, I decided to stay on for a while. Luckily the rain stopped, so I spent another hour and  a half walking around the ringing site checking for day-flying moths and butterflies. I saw 2 species of butterfly, a Small Tortoiseshell and my first Meadow Brown of the year. In addition I spotted 12 species of moth, 7 of which were new for me at Linacre, and a couple of hoverfly species, 1 of which was new for me at Linacre (Volucella bombylans, in case you want to know!)

Volucella bombylans

I managed to photograph a few of the moths. Here are a couple of the new species:

Yellow Shell

 

Straw Dot

 

More information about the moths of the UK can be found here.